


Princess of Olympus

by CinderMaddie



Series: Princess of Olympus [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Mythology References, Quests
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 19:12:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3422387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinderMaddie/pseuds/CinderMaddie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clara Lake is worried when after 3 months, she isn't claimed. Why doesn't her goddess mother want her? But, when her heritage is revealed, along with the next evil plot to destroy the universe, Clara started to think it have been better to remain anonymous after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Princess of Olympus

It had been three months. Three months of waiting, hoping and more waiting. I thought waiting three days, let alone three months, to be Claimed was basically illegal, since Percy Jackson had bartered with the gods so that they had to claim their children as soon as possible.

It seemed like whoever my godly parent was didn't listen to the rule.

"You'll get Claimed, Clara," Travis Stoll said, he and his brother weighing their hands on my shoulders. "Of course, as soon as you're gone, we're claiming the extra bed."

Travis and Connor had broken one of their beds in what is now named 'The Bouncy Castle Catastrophe'. It turns out beds break when bounced on by more than three people, something which was rigidly tested.

I rolled my eyes as the boys ran out of the Hermes cabin, probably scheming for their next big prank. It wasn't enough for Hermes to be the god of messengers; he had to be the god of thieves as well. I'd lost count of how many toothbrushes I'd 'lost' from the camp storeroom.

I was the only person in the Hermes cabin after the twins left. Everyone else was crowding round the pavilion, getting ready for the new members of Camp Half Blood to be claimed. Rebecca West was claimed as a daughter of Apollo as soon as she stepped over the roots of Thalia's tree that protect the camp's boundaries. Marcus Tale was claimed as a son of Mars before he'd even made it past the Big House (of course, he was then transferred to Camp Jupiter where, I hear, he's joined the Fifth Cohort.)

The point is, everyone was getting claimed before me. At sixteen, I thought I'd be claimed years ago. Whispers had reached me about Camp Half Blood, a safe haven for the sons and daughters of Greek Gods. I kind of put two and two together; my mother had been absent since my birth, and I was occasionally visited by a hellhound or three. My father was quick to spill the beans about my genetics when I came home with my thigh ripped up and bloody, after narrowly escaping the attacks of a rogue harpy.

Maybe my mother was shy? Maybe she wanted to ignore the fact she had a kid roaming about the earth? Maybe she already had a lot of children, and couldn't be dealing with another? The Aphrodite cabin sure looked pretty full.

I thought for a while about being Aphrodite's daughter. We had the same blonde locks, though I didn't share her piercing blue eyes. Mine were the color of oak. I certainly didn't think my appearance was parallel to the supermodels of the Aphrodite cabin. I was plain. Ordinary.

Perhaps Athena was my mother. My eyes could be grey, in the correct lighting…. but Eliza Forth was claimed by Athena during her very first Claiming ceremony. Surely, Athena wouldn't have forgotten about me, being so logical and all.

I was summoned from my thoughts by Lilac, an eighteen-year-old daughter of Demeter. She always smelled just like her namesake.

"Clara?" she said as she knocked on the open cabin door. "Are you coming to the Claiming?"

I shook my head. "What's the point?"

Lilac swayed over to my bed in her long wheat colored skirt. "Today might be the day."

"You say that about every Claiming day." The tradition of Claiming Days was still held, for those gods too reluctant to claim their children until they were safely hidden in Camp Half Blood. As soon as you put a label on something, the pursuing demon power was tripled.

"But it could be true this time."

"My mother can Claim me whether I'm here or by the hearth," I said. It was easy for Lilac. She was claimed straight away. She felt the need to hang around with me because we arrived at Camp on the same day, though she was already one of the most popular kids in the Demeter cabin, due to her ability to make the strawberry plants grow in six seconds flat.

"The hearth is the home of the Camp, though, Clara. Special magic surrounds the area," Lilac explained something I'd been told a thousand times. "Plus, do you really want the Hermes Cabin to be where you are claimed: the no man's land of demigod children?"

I laughed. The Hermes Cabin didn't have as many unclaimed campers staying with them anymore, since the construction of cabins for nearly all of the minor gods. (Jason Grace was still trying to come through on his promise, after all.)

"Well…"

"C'mon. I made cookies."

OK, Lilac was bringing out the big guns with Demeter Cabin cookies. No-one at camp could make them better than a daughter of the wheat goddess.

"Fine. But I swear, this is the last Claiming I'm attending."

"Suit yourself," Lilac said, grabbing my hand. She pulled me towards the door. "We better hurry, it's starting!"

Claiming ceremonies were always so magical, no matter how many I saw or whether or not I was Claimed. The hearth fire always glowed twice as bright and you could feel the power radiating in the air. Kids who hadn't been claimed were buzzing like fireflies, their excitement palpable. It made me feel jealous, that I didn't and couldn't feel the same way.

Chiron, in full centaur mode, stood closest to the fire. "Demigods!" he boomed, instantly gaining everyone's attention. "The time had come for the unnamed to be Claimed!"

A raucous round of applause spread its way through the crowd. As soon as the clapping died down, a burst of orange light began to emanate from a scrawny boy with oily hair. A hammer symbol glowed in bronze above his head.

"Hector Quartz, son of Hephaestus!" Chiron shouted. The Hephaestus campers stomped their feet against the ground as Hector rushed to join them. He smiled as his new family welcomed him.

A purple glow burst around a girl of about fourteen straight afterwards. Multiple Z letters floated above her head as Chiron called "Ellie Mountworth, daughter of Hypnos!"

The Hypnos campers were significantly less rowdy than the Hephaestus campers, but all enveloped Ellie in a sleepy hug before she promptly fell asleep against one of the older camper's shoulders.

The Claiming continued for another ten minutes, as the last of the unclaimed were given a home with their half brothers and sisters. I stayed close to Lilac, who squeezed my shoulder hopefully as soon as the last camper was Claimed.

"That's all for now, folks," Dionysus grumbled, kicking his Coca Cola can into the flames. "Now, get back to your cabins before curfew." The wine god was about to continue whining at the campers to disperse when Chiron held him back.

The fire had suddenly roared to twice its usual height. Obviously, the Claiming was not concluded. Everyone looked around for the last unclaimed camper. Lilac elbowed me forward, into the open ring surrounding the fire, despite my protests.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"More like what are you doing?" She ignored my moody expression. "Go be Claimed!"

"Hmm, seems we have a last minute decision," Dionysus huffed. "Come on, gods, stake your claim," he shouted to the sky. "I was in the middle of a card game!"

It looked like the gods couldn't be hurried. I was about to turn back to Lilac, firmly giving up, when suddenly a faint glow surrounded me.

WHAT?

Normally from the color of the glow, you can guess who the godly parent was going to be. Mine was pink. I couldn't be Aphrodite's daughter, could I? The pink was to pale to belong to the Aphrodite girls. There wasn't enough sparkle to be the daughter of the goddess of love. Instead the pink was soft and faded, almost gold, like the colour of the sky right before a sunset.

Chiron furrowed his brows at me, confused.

The glow around me grew stronger, causing campers to back away from the fire with large steps. Or were they backing away from me?

"She's going supernova!" I heard someone whisper as the light grew so bright around me, I thought Chiron would have trouble making out the godly symbol that was bound to be above my head.

Yet, he wasn't calling out my mother. Instead, I slowly started to rise off the ground, reaching three feet above the hearth when the light grew so bright, Lilac told me later that she couldn't see me. I could feel something strange was happening.

My orange camp t-shirt and fraying shorts changed, evaporating from me like water, to be replaced by a flowing golden toga, held by a pink gem stone at the shoulder. Golden ropes of purple and green beads tied around my waist, along with bangles circling my upper arms. I felt the parts of my hair closest to my face become braided and gladiator sandals adorn my feet.

SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS GOING ON?!

Floating to the ground, I landed surprisingly gracefully for someone now wearing a golden toga with a foot length train of fabric at my feet. The light around me softened into a warm rosy hem.

Chiron gulped when he looked above my head.

The closest surrounding campers gasped, starting whispers towards the people at the back that didn't have the perfect view of the godly symbol glowing above my head.

It was a single peacock feather.

Chiron cleared his throat, clearly uncertain whether to announce my goddess mother's identity. Dionysus elbowed him in the ribs, probably anxious to get back to his cards.

"Presenting," Chiron coughed, waving his arms in my direction. I felt like a complete freak with everyone staring at me like I'd just said Percy Jackson was a loser. (Which of course, he isn't.)

Dionysus had to take over, as Chiron couldn't continue. Before my mother's name was whispered, I glanced towards Lilac. She had small tears in her eyes.

"Clara Lake," Dionysus said, with what I thought was a hint of fear. "Daughter of Hera."


End file.
